Chapter 8 – A Creeping Little Shadow

While Mark was out in the village, I was reading a book in my usual study. Although it’s only been a year, I’ve been able to read through most of the books in my study, thanks to my Japanese tendency to work hard at things.

I was reminded of my own unusual speed, even though it was driven by necessity, because I did not want to become the lord of a poor territory.

In the meantime of educating Mark, I’d been conducting a negative campaign, similar to the one I conducted in the Rogue Village, to the servants and other family members of the mansion, especially to those close to me who take care of my personal affairs.

Thanks to this, I succeeded in instilling in almost everyone in the mansion, including my family, the image of a thoughtless and foolish eldest son. Of course, this did not include my younger brother, Mark.

(Hmm, that person again…….)

In the past year, I’d developed not only knowledge from books, but also training in swordsmanship and magic. It was not for nothing that I’d been able to use magic to detect signs of life.

By spreading the magical power within myself to my surroundings, I’d unwittingly acquired the ability to detect any presence that possesses magical power……. I knew I was a genius.

…… Well, that wasn’t important right now. Instead, let’s focus on the person in front of me.

With my ability to sense the presence of others, I was able to confirm the presence at the door of the study. The presence was that of my little sister Laura.

At some point, Laura heard that Mark and I were getting along well and began to ask me to join us at every opportunity.

However, no matter how much she was my little sister by blood, the fewer people who know about my plan, the better. Naturally, my answer was “no”.

However, Laura has a very determined personality. So, she always tried to get in front of me and Mark, no matter what.

It’s not that I didn’t like her, but I couldn’t deny that I’d unconsciously excluded her because I couldn’t let the adults around me know about my noble plans.

As an older brother, I knew that I had to take care of my only little sister in the world, but I couldn’t help but put my plans first.

However, if I continue like this, it was only a matter of time before Laura found out about my plans. If that was the case, one of the best things I could do was to bring Laura into my side as an ally.

(Once that’s decided, I’ll have to explain it to Laura…… what’s going on.)

I’m currently sitting in a chair, legs crossed, with a book open in front of my face, pretending to be reading it. There was a double sliding study door on the other side of the chair, and Laura is peeking through the gap.

From Laura’s point of view, she could see her older brother reading a book, and she must have thought that he was unaware of her presence.

Even though she was just five years old, it was obvious that her behavior was inappropriate for a noblewoman, so I decided to take one action as punishment.

“……”

“…… Waa!!”

“Kyaaa!”

I suddenly screamed loudly at my little sister, who was peeking into the study, as I put down the book I was reading. There was no way she could have anticipated such an action, and I could see her through the doorway as she squealed adorably and fell on her butt.

Letting out a small sigh at the situation, I walked up to the door of the study with a book in my hand, opened one of the doors with my free hand, and called out to my little sister. My little sister, on the other hand, was still startled by my voice and could not recover from the state of falling on her buttocks.

“What are you doing? Sneaking around like that.”

“T-this is……… w-well…”

“What is a lady, a daughter of Baron Malbert, doing sneaking around~? Is that what a person born into a noble family would do~?”

“O-oh, ani-sama. Please don’t be so mean!”

Laura’s cheeks puffed up like a balloon as she protested my joking action. I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the sight of her, as it suited her so well.

My sister’s cheeks puffed up even more at the sight of me laughing. After making sure that no one was around, I took her hand and helped her up, and brought her straight into the study.

Although I was confused by the sudden pull of her hand, she didn’t reject me and brought her straight into the study. She sat down in the chair I had been using earlier, and with a serious expression on my face, I asked Laura.

“Laura, I have something to ask you.”

“What is it?”

She seemed unhappy with the sudden change in my attitude, but I was serious, so I went on with my story.

“What do you think of me?”

“I adore you very much. When I come of age, I will give my body and soul to you as my older brother’s wife!”

“Un, it’s rejected. In the first place, we can’t get married because we’re brother and sister.”

This was it. One of the reasons why I had been reluctant to get involved with Laura was because of her unusual obsession with me.

I had no idea how this happened, but as it turned out, Laura has romantic feelings for me, her own blood older brother.

She was only five years old, and could be shrugged off as the ramblings of a child, but in Laura’s case, it wasn’t the adorable desires of a dreamy little girl, it was serious.

It had been four months since I had regained my memories of my previous life. One day in the morning, the clothes I usually wore went missing.

There was a bit of an uproar in the house, thinking that a thief had broken in, but the culprit was soon found. Yes, it was my sister Laura.

It would have been a funny story if that was all, but Tanya, my caretaker, told me that when the missing clothes were found, Laura, who was holding them, smelled them and had an ecstatic expression on her face.

This led me to draw a line that I had drawn, even just to prevent people around me from knowing about my plans, but I had to be doubly careful with Laura.

“Oh, how could God have made me your sister? But this Laura. I don’t care about such trifles!”

“Well, I do care.”

Afterward, I explained my plan to Laura and told her that I would like her cooperation, and even I couldn’t help but laugh when she gave me her approval before I could say anything else.

Anyway, with Laura’s joining us, I was able to proceed with further plans, but I couldn’t get rid of the anxiety that my plans would be exposed.